Choice is a Kind of Magic
by XWingAce
Summary: "You want the real truth, Detective?" He let his hands fall to his sides, then raised one of them to his chest. "I'm a lot older than I look." Oh great. One delusional man was enough in Chloe Decker's life Hob Gadling walks in on one of Chloe and Lucifer's cases for his own reasons.


Lux was its typical mix of music, dancing, and drinking. Chloe fought her way through the crowd of revellers to the bar. It was her best chance at finding Lucifer – the bartender always had a line to his boss, even if Lucifer didn't spot her there himself.

She ended up at what appeared to be the single open place at the counter. She was standing next to a guy drinking … beer? Chloe didn't know that Lux even _served_ beer. She'd always seen mixed drinks, straight booze or, at best, wine and champagne.

She looked the man over. Reddish-brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and of indeterminate age. Lux saw customers of all legal ages and of all walks of life, but still, this guy didn't fit the profile. If nothing else, he wasn't dressed for a night out clubbing. He wore a check shirt over new jeans, finished off with sturdy work boots. Not dressed for dancing in the least.

He caught her assessment and smiled at her. "Like what you see, love?"

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head in apology. "It's just that you don't look like a typical customer."

"I could say the same," he shot back. He had an accent: British, but not as cultured as Lucifer's.

Chloe supposed that her own practical ensemble also didn't fit with the crowd at Lux. But then she wasn't here for dancing, either. "I'm here to meet with the owner." By now, the bartender had seen her and put a club soda in front of her while making 'calling' motions with his hands. Lucifer would be on his way.

"Know him, do you?" British Guy asked, lips twitching upward. "What's he like, then?"

"Oh, I thought you might know him, too," Chloe said, evading the question. No need to go into detail about her opinions of Lucifer to a complete stranger. "I thought you two might be friends from the 'old country'." She took care to pronounce the scare quotes.

The stranger barked a laugh. "Hardly." He took a draft of his beer. "We had a friend in common. We were both at his funeral. But I don't think we were even introduced."

Oh. "I'm sorry," Chloe said. Lucifer didn't have many real friends … not that he talked about, anyway.

"Oh, it's been a while." For a moment, the stranger looked wistfully into the distance. Then he came back to himself. "Anyway, I heard he'd taken over this place. And I was in town, so I thought I'd come and have a look."

"And do _you_ like what you see?"

"It's changed less than I thought it might have," the stranger said. Then he winced as the music changed tracks. It turned into heavy crashing drums followed by a guitar wail. "Although the soundtrack is bang on to expectations." He finished his beer, then turned back to the bar to order a refill.

Chloe turned with him, only to find Lucifer standing behind the bar. He nodded at Chloe, but addressed the stranger. "Drinking beer? I'm sure I can do better than that." He held up a dusty bottle containing a clear liquid. The bottle had no label. "You should try this," he said, breaking the seal on the bottle and filling two shot glasses. He held the bottle over a third, looking at Chloe with his eyebrows raised. She shook her head and he shrugged, putting the bottle down.

The stranger eyed the bottle with a frown. "Sure." He picked up the glass and sniffed at the drink. "What is it?" He must not have smelled anything untoward, because he started drinking without further pause.

"Genuine Prohibition-era moonshine," Lucifer said. The stranger did a classic spit-take. Lucifer tutted and poured him another shot. "We found a whole stash of bottles behind a wall when we were renovating the secret tunnels in the basement. We believe it was put there by the owner of the time, one Robert Galling."

The stranger finished the second shot and coughed. "Smooth," was all he got out. Then, after a few more coughs, "The man clearly had taste. Thanks for letting me try it."

Lucifer smiled, showing his teeth. "Just being a good host, Mr. …?"

"Gayley. Roger Gayley. And I appreciate the welcome, Morningstar." Roger Gayley inclined his head and mimed taking off a hat he wasn't wearing.

Chloe started making a show of checking her watch. Lucifer didn't usually keep her waiting this long, and they _did_ have a crime scene to go to.

"Quite so, Detective." Lucifer had seen her gesture and now finally deigned to acknowledge her. "Well, Roger, I'm afraid business calls me elsewhere."

"Of course," Gayley said, nodding at Chloe as well. "Please don't let me keep you. I was just passing through."

-x-

"How do you know Roger Gayley?" Chloe asked Lucifer on their way to the crime scene.

"He's been around," Lucifer said casually. "Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person."

Chloe frowned. "He didn't seem the type to have been 'around' in your circles."

"Not in _my_ circles, no." Lucifer's lips twitched into an almost-smile. "He's always been closer to earth, I guess you could say."

"He said you had a friend in common."

Lucifer looked thoughtful. "Quite possibly. I meet a lot of people. Did he say anything else about this 'friend'?"

"He claimed that you were both at his funeral."

"Oh, _that_ friend." Lucifer shook his head. "Of course we were both at his funeral. When the Lord of Dreams dies, _everyone_ gets invited."

So, big society figure then. British celebrity? 'Lord of Dreams' sounded more like some fanciful porn star name. Or a drug dealer. So the possibility that it was some big underworld figure hadn't been ruled out, either. But further speculation would have to wait.

-x-

Their crime scene was a student's dorm. And the body, unfortunately, was the student who was supposed to be living in it.

Jocelyn Grant would never see her 21st birthday. The young black woman had been a sophomore Chemistry major at one of the city colleges. She was stretched out on her bed. There was vomit coming out of her mouth. And the smell of alcohol was all-pervasive. Lucifer sniffed.

"I guess it's clear what she died of," Chloe said. Binge-drinking among students, even underage ones, wasn't exactly uncommon.

"Bingeing on a Tuesday," Lucifer added. "I guess she really did embrace the freedoms of student life." At Chloe's glare, he swallowed. "And she paid the price for it."

"You'd think, right?" Ella said. She'd finished her preliminary examination while Chloe had been waiting for Lucifer at Lux. She was now noting down her observations. "But there's no vomit on her bed or in her room, anywhere. She didn't die _here_."

"So someone moved her?" That was a decent indication of foul play.

"Looks like it." Ella checked another set of notes. "Her roommates say she wasn't home last night, or this morning. They came home from class to find her door closed. They knocked to check if she wanted dinner. When there was no answer, they picked the lock and found her like this."

"Do we believe them?" That question was directed to Dan, who'd come over when he heard Ella read the notes.

"No reason not to, for now. We'll check with their professors to see if they were in class."

-x-

Chloe was at the precinct, processing the paperwork on Jocelyn Grant's case. Dan was out with the uniforms talking to college staff, trying to confirm the roommates' alibis. Ella was still waiting on the autopsy report and the results of her tests. This was the dead time at the start of a case that hadn't delivered any clues so far.

Lucifer never deigned to show up for this sort of thing, of course. He was back at Lux, or wherever he spent his early mornings.

One of the uniformed officers walked into the bullpen with a man in tow. She looked around, then headed straight for Chloe. As they approached, Chloe recognised the man. Roger Gayley. He was a lot less cheerful, this time.

"Mr. Gayley," Chloe greeted him. "What can I do for you?"

Roger Gayley was wringing his hands. He looked at the papers on Chloe's desk before meeting her eyes. "Can I see her?" he asked.

"See who?"

The officer who had delivered Mr. Gayley to Chloe's desk cleared her throat. "Mr. Gayley came to your crime scene, Detective."

"I was supposed to meet her today," Roger Gayley added. "And then I find all these officers …."

"Thank you," Chloe said to the officer. "I'll take it from here." She got up to offer Roger the chair opposite her desk. Once he was seated, she started with the most important question. "How do you know Ms. Grant?"

It took a little while before Gayley answered. He sat down and closed his eyes, first. Then he sighed. "I'm her f …." He caught himself, changing what he was going to say. "… friend. I'm a friend of the family." He shook his head. "Joss called me, said there was something she wanted to talk to me about."

"And what was that?" Chloe made a note to investigate the relation between Gayley and the Grants. He had to be more than just a family friend. And, if his story was true, something of a confidant of Jocelyn's. "Why would she call you for something like that?"

Gayley shrugged. "I think there was something going on at her college. She didn't specify much."

"Thank you," Chloe said as she wrote that down, too. "Can I have your contact information?"

"Of course." Gayley handed over a business card from the hotel he was staying. He also answered Chloe's standard questions about name, age, address … the whole shebang. "But I would really like to see her, if that's possible."

Chloe shook her head and checked her notes. "We've notified her next of kin to come in for a formal identification. Her mother is on her way."

Gayley bit his lip. He cast his eyes down and nodded. "Fair enough." He moved as if to get up. "Do you need me for anything else?"

Chloe held out her hand to stop him. "If Jocelyn called you with a concern about her school, why didn't you go to meet her has soon as you were in town? Why come to Lux last night?"

Gayley sat down again. "I didn't tell her when I'd get here. I did go to her dorm when I got in to LA. She wasn't home. So I thought I'd meet her in the morning."

"You didn't worry about her then?"

Gayley smiled bitterly. "She was an adult and a student. I wouldn't even _want_ to know what she did at night unless she chose to tell me." He shook his head. "Of course I worried," he confirmed. "But there's nothing unusual about a student not being at home of a night. Especially since she wasn't expecting me."

That was plausible, at least. Chloe added the explanation to Gayley's statement. "All right, then." She closed the folder. "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Gayley. Please don't leave town."

He took the dismissal with grace. "Of course, Detective Decker."

Gayley walked off.

-x-

While Gayley walked out the door, the courier that always brought the lab results came in. Chloe texted Lucifer that the results were in. He'd be here in twenty minutes. They could talk to Ella then.

For now, Chloe entered Gayley's name into the DMV search records. Something about him tweaked her instincts, so she wanted to find out what she could. Maybe it was the fact that Lucifer seemed to know him, but didn't admit to a personal connection. Something was up with Roger Gayley.

Something really _was_ up with Roger Gayley. His driver's licence existed, yes, but it was only a year old. No previous record of the man. Not even in the nation-wide search.

Ella approached Chloe's desk. "Hey. I've got the results of those tests. Want to go through them?"

"Thanks, Ella." Chloe held up a hand to stop Ella from going on. "I saw the courier come in, so I let Lucifer know the results would be in." She checked her phone to find Lucifer's confirmation that he was en route. "He should be here soon, and then we only have to go over it once." Ella nodded and was already turning around when Chloe realised there was still something Ella could help with. But … can you help me with this, please?"

"Sure thing. What's up?" Ella joined Chloe behind her computer.

Chloe pointed at Roger Gayley's picture in the DMV database. "Let's say I want to find anyone with a similar picture in the country. Is there a way to do that?"

Ella frowned. "It's not as easy as it should be, but …." Her fingers twitched. "Here, let me."

Chloe sat back and let Ella work, watching screens pop up under her commands. Eventually, Ella sat back. "There. Won't get you results right away, but in a few hours you should have matching pictures in your inbox. Want me to set one up for Lucifer's picture, too?"

Chloe considered that for a second. But no. They'd gone too far for that. "No thanks, Ella."

Good thing, too, as Lucifer chose that moment to walk into the bullpen.

-x-

"So, Jocelyn _definitely_ didn't binge herself to death," Ella started her summary of results. "To get the concentration of alcohol we found in her stomach, she'd had to have drank almost pure alcohol."

"Well, that's fun to try _once_ ," Lucifer said. "But not generally conducive to extended enjoyment."

Chloe shook her head. Ella, for once, joined her. "You really wouldn't enjoy it much." He waved the whole argument away. "Anyway, not really relevant. Because we also found all sorts of other traces in her stomach and in her blood. Whatever _wasn't_ alcohol that she drank was all sorts of organic and metal contaminants."

Ella opened the folder with the analysis results. "Some of these are common precursors to drugs. The rest is, well - open a random chemistry cupboard, throw together what you find, and you might get something like this."

"As in things you might find in one of the labs she studied at?" Chloe asked. "And Gayley said Jocelyn had called him about something at her college."

"Well, that sounds like a clue," Lucifer agreed. Then, after a pause, "Wait, Gayley came here?"

"He did." Chloe nodded. "He claims he was friends with the victim." She looked up at Lucifer. "Why do you ask?"

Lucifer shook his head. "No reason just yet." He took a step to the door of Ella's lab. "Shall we go talk to some professors, Detective?'

-x-

Lucifer became pensive again as they walked onto the college campus. Initially, Chloe let him be. She was asking all the 'boring' questions and showing pictures to people, so he could just be ignoring her because of that. He seemed to be paying more attention to the architecture.

The building looked like it had seen better days, somewhere in the 1970s. As they walked further into the building in search of Jocelyn's professors, the 1970s décor gave way to 1950s renovations of even older structures.

"Okay, spill," Chloe said to Lucifer as they sat outside the professor's office. Lucifer was being uncharacteristically silent. He wasn't even casually flirting with any of the students passing by.

Lucifer frowned at her. "Spill what?"

"You're too quiet, and I think it's because of our case. So, start talking."

Lucifer looked away, silent. Now he was _really_ thinking. Probably about how to phrase whatever he was going to say for maximum obfuscation. Chloe balled her fists in frustration, then let them out again. It wasn't going to accomplish anything. Eventually, Lucifer nodded. "If Gayley's involved in this case, we should look into any connection to Robert Galling."

That seemed remarkably to the point, considering. However …. "Robert Galling?" Chloe had to think back, but then she remembered Lucifer mentioning the name. "You mean one of Lux's previous owners?"

"I do." Lucifer sat up straighter. "He didn't just own Lux's building. He had a whole host of properties throughout the city, including around here." He gestured around him. "He also ran a large part of the distribution network for illegal liquor in the county. Secret tunnels _everywhere_."

"That was a hundred years ago, Lucifer. What does it have to do with what is happening now?

Lucifer bristled. "I'm your consultant. This is me, consulting."

He had a point there. And Lucifer's odd insights were what made the two of them such a _good_ investigative team. "All right," Chloe said, holding out her hands to calm Lucifer down. "So what's Gayley's connection?"

Lucifer looked away and fell silent again. He bit the inside of his cheek. "It's hard to say. But he has to be here for a reason."

Gayley _had_ responded quite strongly when Lucifer mentioned the name 'Galling' last night. Chloe thought it had been because of Lucifer's revelation that Gayley was drinking illegal booze. Well, she already had some checks outstanding on Gayley. They'd better wait out those results.

They were interrupted by a woman wearing a turtleneck and thick glasses. "I'm Karen Mulberry. I heard you were looking for me?" She had long reddish hair that was pulled back in a tight braid. If the turtleneck hadn't been bright red with yellow figures printed on it, she'd have looked quite severe. She smiled brightly at Lucifer, before focusing on Chloe. She was holding a pen. Even as she looked at Chloe, her hands kept playing with the pen.

Chloe showed her badge and introduced herself and Lucifer. "We came to talk to you about Jocelyn Grant. You were one of her professors?"

"Oh." Mulberry's expression fell. The pen clicked once. "I heard this morning. Poor girl." She sighed, then recovered. "I'm not a professor – but yes, I'm the teacher on her lab course. Joss was in our lab all day yesterday."

"Can we see those labs?"

"Of course." Mulberry nodded. "Please follow me."

Mulberry led them even deeper into the building. "Our research labs are in the outbuilding. There's better access to install proper equipment there. But we needed the space, so we kept the old labs as teaching labs for our undergrads."

They walked past glass doors to an open staircase. There were stairs running down, but they'd been blocked off. "What's downstairs?" Chloe asked.

"Most of it is storage these days," Mulberry replied. She clicked her pen twice. "When this building was first converted into a school back in the forties, they created labs and shelters in the basement and subbasement." The pen turned over in Mulberry's hands. "But most of the labs were abandoned after the expansion."

Mulberry kept walking, speeding past the staircase. Her pen clicked a few more times. "When the subbasement was abandoned, that sparked rumours among the students that it was haunted down there. At least one or two got lost every year because of dares or pranks. They bricked up the entrances to the subbasement to stop people exploring."

"Secret tunnels," Lucifer whispered in Chloe's ear.

Chloe paid him no mind. She continued her questioning of Mulberry. "But the basement is still accessible?"

Mulberry nodded. "One or two labs are still used for vibration-sensitive instruments. The rest is storage." She clasped her hands over her pen. "We don't encourage people to go down there."

Okay, that was interesting. "Would Jocelyn have gone down there?"

Mulberry frowned. "She wouldn't have had a reason to go. And she wasn't one of those students who are particularly obsessed with the 'haunted basement'." She took off her glasses and started polishing them on her sleeve. "At least not as far as I've seen." She stopped walking. "We're at the student labs."

The labs themselves weren't particularly interesting. Chloe's interest piqued slightly at the solvent still that had been set up, but Mulberry assured them that nothing was missing from the labs. Even the waste canisters were all filled to about the same level.

Jocelyn's fellow students didn't have much to report, either, except to confirm Mulberry's account. It all began to look like a dead end. Chloe made a note to have Dan or someone else get full statements when her phone beeped. Jocelyn's mother had arrived in LA. She'd arranged to be at the morgue for a formal identification in an hour. Time to go.

-x-

Guenevere Grant was a black woman in her late forties. In her stark black, formal pantsuit she looked older. Coming in on her heels was Roger Gayley.

Chloe was watching on camera; they hadn't been introduced yet. The liaison officer saw Gayley come in and held out a hand. "Sir, we usually only allow next of kin for this."

Ms. Grant put a hand on Gayley's arm and faced the officer. "He's coming with me," she said, in a tone that brooked no argument, despite the waver in her voice. When they walked into the actual morgue, Chloe saw that her hand was clasping Gayley's.

When the ME uncovered the body, Ms. Grant stiffened, biting her lips. She nodded tersely at the ME, who spoke the formal identification out loud.

Gayley had put his arm around Ms. Grant's shoulder as soon as the ME had drawn back the sheet. Now she turned into that embrace. Her hands were fumbling in her handbag, eventually retrieving a tissue. But Gayley didn't let go. Instead, he tightened his embrace, stroking Ms. Grant's back. It was hard to tell on the monitor, but while he wasn't crying, his eyes looked wet.

Definitely not just a random guy off the street. He _had_ a connection with Guenevere Grant at least, and that made it likely Gayley hadn't been lying that he'd been a friend of Jocelyn's, too. Chloe mentally upgraded him from a loose end to a person of interest in her case.

Lucifer was no longer at her back. He'd left the observation room. Before Chloe could start to look for him, she saw him on camera. He was striding into the front office of the mortuary as Ms. Grant and Gayley came in from the other room.

Lucifer was in hypnosis mode, catching Gayley's eyes and talking in on him. But the language he was speaking … was that German? No, it didn't quite sound like that. Chloe couldn't understand it, in any case. Neither could Ms. Grant, from her surprise.

But Gayley could. He took in Lucifer's words and answered without any resistance, in the same language.

Whatever Gayley said, it surprised Lucifer. He backed off, allowing the liaison officer to politely but firmly ask him to leave the room and then to apologise to Ms. Grant and Gayley. Both of them waved it off.

Chloe left the monitor room to confront Lucifer herself. "What was that about, Lucifer?"

Lucifer shook his head. "Nothing," he said. He sighed, rolling his shoulders. "For once, someone's motives are exactly what he says they are."

Yeah, he wasn't going to get away with that. "What was that language you were speaking? And what did you ask Gayley?"

Lucifer gave her an innocent look. "English, Detective. What else would it have been?"

That hadn't been English. At least not American. It might have been some strange regional variant from the United Kingdom. If Gayley and Lucifer knew each other from way back, then, maybe .… She needed to do more homework on Gayley. That would also give her more context once she could get around to interrogating him properly. "All right, let's go with English. What did you ask him?"

"I asked him what he desired, of course." Lucifer shrugged matter-of-factly. "Why he came to Lux, and why he was here now."

"And?"

"As he said last night – he wanted to see what had happened to the place," Lucifer stated baldly. "And he was in LA because Jocelyn had called him to talk about her school, as I believe he told you."

The school again. The school that had looked perfectly innocent during daylight. Well, as innocent as any building with laboratories could ever look. But if anything nefarious was going on, it wouldn't be in broad daylight. "We should check out the school tonight."

"Splendid idea, Detective!" Lucifer gave her an enthusiastic grin. "I'm always up for some breaking and entering."

-x-

It was too early to go to back to the college yet. Lucifer made himself scarce, leaving Chloe at her desk with all the fresh paperwork for this case. And Ella's results of the DMV search.

Chloe started some more searches, for Robert Galling this time. By the time she got through the background on Roger Gayley, these new searches should be giving some results.

Roger Gayley's records matched up with his Michigan driver's licence. But he'd gotten the lease on his apartment last year, and his driver's licence was only slightly older. No bank info there before two years ago, either.

Chloe had seen something like this before, when she'd been running background checks on Lucifer. She hadn't gone as in-depth on Gayley yet, but the first signs looked suspiciously similar. Lucifer hadn't existed a few years earlier, either. 'Gayley' was very likely a false identity.

Of course, that left the problem of proving who Gayley really was.

That's where Ella's search gave promising results. Bless her, the algorithm had even ranked the results according to the similarity of the image. Gayley's own licence was the top result. But Robert Gadlen, the second result, could have been an identical twin. This was a California licence, and it had expired two years ago.

Chloe paused and searched for Ms. Grant's records. Jocelyn's birth certificate had not mentioned a father. But Ms. Grant had been registered at the same address as one R. Gadlen until two years ago, too. That couldn't have been a coincidence. So Gayley was Gadlen?

The next few results of the image search were simply lookalikes and people with similar hair color. But then further down the list was Robbie Galding. Who was a Gayley identical twin, except with longer hair. The licence dated back to 2005. The birthdates on Gayley's and Galding's licences showed the latter as about a decade older. So that was probably not Gayley. Possibly a brother with _really_ close family resemblance?

Unless Gayley had been fudging his birthdate. And with already fake papers, why not?

There was something else about these names. Chloe re-sorted her list of results so the last names were in alphabetical order. The list had results from Aaronson to Zobolowsky. That was to be expected since Gayley's general description was 'Generic Caucasian Male #23'. But the high-similarity matches were clustered around 'G'.

Gadlen, Galding, Gayley. All these names were alike, too. Far too alike to be a coincidence. Especially if you considered they were all named some variation of Robert or Roger. It pointed to someone changing their identity every few years. But why?

It wasn't the last result either. Someone in Colorado had done good work digitizing old DMV records. Back in the mid-80s, someone called Rob Galley had been another Gayley doppelganger. Clean-shaven, this time. That broke the pattern a bit. Galley was too old for this to be Gayley. But it could have been his father … maybe.

Speaking of suspect names fitting a pattern, there was still Robert Galling to consider.

He'd lived too long ago for police records to give anything. But the internet at large was something else. He'd apparently been famous enough in LA history to get writeups on a few websites. The stories were about a public philanthropist who'd founded a college and started a trust. The trust still provided the majority of that college's funding. They weren't about the crime boss Lucifer had implied he was.

But that college _was_ built on the site of Robert Galling's mansion. Parts of the mansion still formed the foundations for the science building. Jocelyn's college. Lucifer had been right about that part, at least.

There was only one picture available on the internet. And it was taken side-on, from a distance. But Galling _did_ resemble Gayley a little. Enough for it to be a family resemblance?

It all made it all the more important to check out the college. Robert Galling could have been a philanthropist to the public at large and still have had his hands in all kinds of unsavoury business. It wasn't clear yet what that had to do with Jocelyn's death, but _something_ was related.

-x-

Even late at night, the lab wing of the college wasn't entirely deserted. As the night guard told Chloe, even at night there were still some people doing research that was either light sensitive or required a lot of time. But still, most of the corridors were deserted and only half the lights were on. Chloe and Lucifer's footsteps echoed into the distance. The impression was more than a little eerie.

The student labs were as deserted as the corridors. Apart from the low hum of the ventilation system, everything was quiet. And every wall was disappointingly solid.

"This is starting to look like a dead end," Chloe told Lucifer.

"Don't give up so soon, Detective," Lucifer said, pointing the beam of his flashlight back toward the corridor. Including the staircase they'd passed this afternoon. "We haven't even checked out the basement yet."

The staircase to the subbasement was bricked up solid. Nobody was going anywhere through there. The basement seemed to offer little more in the way of clues. There were rooms here, whose doors all opened at Lucifer's touch. They were indeed all storage. Chloe took to tapping the walls lightly, trying to hear a hollow sound.

Suddenly, the door to the room they were in flew open. A man's voice rang through the room, radiating annoyance, "Do you _mind!_ "

Chloe had spun on her heel. She'd dropped her flashlight and gone for her gun. Now she lowered it slowly, while waiting for her heart rate to go down again. "LAPD," she managed to get out, while Lucifer aimed his flashlight at the intruder. "Who are you?"

The light revealed a twenty-something Asian man with messy hair and glasses. He wasn't wearing a lab coat, but there were stains on the cuffs of his shirt and his jeans. "I'm Damian Wu." He blinked into the beam of the flashlight. "Why is the LAPD stomping around for hours and knocking on walls? You're ruining my measurements." He pointed at the wall Chloe had been knocking on. "I've got an STM set up in the lab next door. It's very sensitive. Every time you knock on the wall, you disturb a reading."

"Sorry about that," Chloe said. She holstered her gun. Damian had said something interesting. "What was that about people stomping around? We haven't been here that long."

"It's been going on all night," Damian said, rolling his eyes. "It's been terrible. I'll be here all week, at this rate."

"Where did it come from?"

Damian shrugged. "Outside my lab, is all I know." He snorted. "The lab is specifically set up underground to avoid vibrations. You'd think that'd work, wouldn't you?"

"Can we check your lab?"

"Sure."

The lab was set up in the room next door. It featured a flow cabinet, a lot of computers and more equipment that Chloe couldn't place. Most of it had been set up against the back wall. Chloe knocked the back of her flashlight against it. It didn't sound any more hollow than the wall of the storeroom had.

"Another dead end, then?" Lucifer asked.

"Seems like it," Chloe confirmed. She thanked Damian and prepared to leave. Lucifer had gone out before her, and he'd frozen in the doorway. She couldn't pass.

"Lucifer …."

"Shhh …," Lucifer shushed her. He held out a hand, pointing in the direction of the next storeroom. The door already stood open. Then he stepped forward to let her exit. With a flourish, he indicated the exact spot where he'd stood.

Chloe stepped into the doorway. A cold chill worked its way across her spine. A draft. They were underground. Where could a draft be coming from?

Lucifer pointed to the next storeroom again. "It's coming from that direction," he said.

Indeed. In the next storeroom, part of the back wall had been cleared. It was hard to see from the doorway because a big rack of glassware had been placed in the middle of the room. Past that, it was obvious. As was the seam that indicated a doorway of some sort. There _were_ still entries to secret rooms or tunnels. And based on what Damian had said, someone had been using this entrance tonight.

Chloe looked around for some kind of opening mechanism. When she couldn't see anything, she started feeling around to see if any part of the wall could be pressed in. Lucifer, as usual, walked up, touched a spot on the door, and got lucky the first time. The door opened. Behind the door was a staircase, leading down.

Lucifer grinned at her. "After you, Detective."

-x-

In the subbasement there were no lights. But there had to be people here, somewhere. Damian had noticed them go past. Chloe kept her flashlight pressed against her gun.

It was colder down here. Chloe's jacket wasn't quite enough to keep out the chill. She shivered briefly. If they wanted to find their culprits, they had to act now. No time for being cold. She headed in the direction of the draft.

Lucifer tugged on her sleeve. "The labs will be under the building, Detective," he whispered. "This way." He inclined his head in the other direction. As Chloe turned to follow, he strode off.

But then something else caught Chloe's ears. A very slight echo that wasn't from Lucifer's footsteps. Barely even a sound, really. She stopped and turned around, straining to hear the sounds she thought she'd heard. "Lucifer, wait," she whispered as loud as she dared …. But Lucifer was already too far away to hear her plea. His back was retreating into the distance. Then he turned a corner and all Chloe could make out was the light of his flashlight as a slightly brighter gloom in the distance.

Damn it. She set off after him. But after she'd passed a junction, even the lighter patch in the darkness up ahead was gone. He'd turned another corner somewhere up ahead. When she got to that next junction, there was no indication of where he'd gone.

Chloe stayed in place for a ten-count, straining her ears for any footsteps. But now _everything_ had gone quiet. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

OK. No point in running after Lucifer like a headless chicken. Maybe he'd notice she wasn't there and come to find her. But she wasn't where she'd been anymore. Going back there and waiting seemed like a recipe for discovery if there was anyone else down here. Shouting his name would also cause anyone _else_ to hear her. So. Lucifer was heading toward trouble. She was looking for that trouble too. Conclusion: find trouble, find Lucifer. Good.

Chloe switched off her flashlight. She'd only make herself more noticeable, and she didn't have any backup anymore.

She backtracked to the corridor where she'd lost Lucifer. He'd been headed away from the draft, so that's where she should go, too. Try to listen and look for any lights. Stay away from people unless they were alone and she could determine they were unarmed.

She'd passed two more intersections when the echo she thought she'd heard earlier returned. She froze for an instant, then pressed her back against the wall, trying to become part of it.

The echoes became louder. Whoever it was, they were coming closer

They were footsteps. One person.

It wasn't Lucifer. He had a light tread in those fancy shoes of his. This was someone wearing much heavier footwear.

Whoever it was, they couldn't be far off, now. There was no light. They weren't using a flashlight. That made it less likely they were one of the people who came here regularly. The only reason to not use a flashlight in these dark tunnels would be to stay unnoticed. Big mistake to wear those boots, in that case.

Time to take a risk. Chloe turned on her flashlight in her pocket, the dark fabric of the jacket keeping the beam hidden. Taking the gun in a grip she could also use one-handed if she had to, she stepped out into the corridor where the footsteps approached.

"LAPD; freeze!" she said forcefully. Shouting would carry too far. The footsteps stopped. Chloe snapped up her flashlight, guessing at what would be her opponent's eye-height.

She'd overestimated. She had to adjust her aim down a little to hit Roger Gayley's eyes. He raised his arms. One hand held a crowbar.

Gayley squinted into the beam. "Detective … Decker, was it?" He blinked a few more times. "Good to see the LAPD is here, too."

"Put down the crowbar, Gayley." Chloe didn't let herself get distracted by his words.

Gayley started, looking at the crowbar in his hands almost as if he were surprised he was holding it. "Of course." He crouched and let the crowbar slide to the floor soundlessly. Then he took two deliberate paces backward, hands back in the air. "There. All safe."

"I'll be the judge of that." Chloe kept her gun and her flashlight trained at Gayley. When he nodded, she continued. "All right, face and hands against the wall, spread your legs."

Gayley complied and didn't resist as Chloe searched him. Apart from the crowbar, he wasn't carrying any weapons. No ID, either. "Who the hell _are_ you?" Chloe asked as she patted his back and stepped back to give him room again.

Gayley turned around, facing her again. "I'm me, Detective Decker. Just that."

"Cute," Chloe stated dryly. "We don't have _time_ for cute right now." She let her flashlight play around the tunnel for emphasis. "Look where we are. Right now, I need honest."

She took a breath. "I know Gayley is not your real name. He didn't exist until two years ago." She kept her gun down, but raised her flashlight again, scanning over Gayley. He was average everything, dressed in workman's boots, black jeans and a dark, formless sweater. He couldn't get more un-Lucifer if he tried. And yet, there was this whole didn't-exist-until-recently thing, and the strange language they both seemed to speak. Not to mention the evasive answers. "A man matching your description lived with Guenevere Grant until two years ago. You?"

Gayley smiled at her. "Who else?" He shook the question away just as quickly. "You're right. That was me." He closed his eyes and sighed. "It was time to leave."

"Why?"

Gayley raised his eyebrows. "You want the real truth, Detective?" He let his hands fall to his sides, then raised one of them to his chest. "I'm a lot older than I look. If I don't move along every decade or three, people start asking awkward questions." He smiled. "Like you are doing now, come to think of it."

"So you're saying you're not just Robert Gadlen, but also Rob Galding."

He nodded. "And Robert Galling." The smile came back, broadening into a grin. "So, really, I'm taking a walk in my own basement. Can you say the same?"

Oh, great. More games. One delusional man was enough in Chloe's life. "I can say you have the right to remain silent and walk you out of here. Awkward enough for you?"

Gayley eyes widened. He took a step back, putting his back against the wall. "Far too much," he managed to get out after a few seconds.

"Then you'd better come up with a believable story." Gayley _didn't_ come across as a threat to her, crowbar and lies or delusions about his identity notwithstanding. But Chloe wasn't going to fall for this sort of nonsense again.

Gayley frowned at her, confused. "You have the Morningstar as your partner, and you have trouble believing _me?_ " He used Lucifer's last name as if it were a title.

"I believe Lucifer believes his claims. I have no such obligation to you."

Gayley shook his head, giving a bemused laugh. "You've already done your research. You've seen the pictures, or you wouldn't be asking me about those names." He held his hands up, palms out, as if to offer her his words. "If you've seen that and still don't believe what I'm saying, I don't know what else to say right now." He shrugged, then clasped his hands. He met her eyes as best he could. "Do me the same courtesy, then, please. Believe that I believe it; no more."

Well. They had to get out of here at some point or they _would_ be found. Chloe might almost consider it pure luck that anyone else wandering around down here hadn't stumbled across them already. According to the uniforms who had done the follow-up at the college, Gayley had never been seen at the school. He'd presented himself openly at the police station. Chloe was here, primarily, to find the killer of Jocelyn Grant. That wasn't Gayley. So. "Why did you come _here_ , now? If you knew these tunnels existed, you could have told the police."

"And would you have believed me?" He gestured at her as a reference to their earlier discussion. "Joss only said there was something about the school. I didn't know for certain she was talking about the subbasement. So I wanted to check it out myself before I alerted anyone."

"We would have checked your story," Chloe said. "And it would have prevented this whole mess." There was one last question to ask in that regard. "Would she have known of these tunnels in the first place?"

Gayley grimaced. "Even apart from the fact that they're a school legend, yes, she knew. I told her." He jammed his hands into the pockets of his sweater. "She knew everything. And clearly, she went exploring."

Any and all cheer had vanished from Gayley's expression. "You might even say that she got herself killed _because_ I told her about these tunnels." He straightened. "And if that's the case, then I want to make sure she didn't die for nothing."

That seemed like a genuine sentiment, at least. "All right," Chloe said. "Let's …."

Before she could finish that sentence, two gunshots echoed through the tunnels. Somewhere up ahead, something had flared brightly. A lot brighter than a flashlight, even a high-powered one. There were people screaming and other sounds. Glass breaking, perhaps, and more vague crashes and thuds. Lucifer had found trouble.

Then came a very telling _whoosh_. The draft picked up. The bright light disappeared, but a glow remained. There wasn't a temperature increase, now. There would be, soon.

Gayley raised his eyebrows at her. Without a further word, they both set off running toward the noise.

They didn't have far to go. Chloe turned a corner and skidded to a halt. Someone else was doing the same thing opposite her.

Karen Mulberry.

Something had badly shaken her. She was breathing hard and trembling. Her cheeks were red and streaked with tears. But she also had a gun, and now she raised it. "Let me through! I—I can't …."

Chloe still had her gun down. She held out one hand, trying to placate the woman. With her as upset as she looked, now was the time to try and deescalate the situation. "Karen. Ms. Mulberry. Let's all calm down." She took a step closer. "Nobody needs to get hurt."

Gayley came out of the corridor behind her. Mulberry switched her aim to him, although she kept looking between them. She held the gun in a desperate grip. "Don't come any closer!"

"Okay," Chloe said, raising one hand and hiding her gun behind her back with the other. She took one step backward, putting her next to Gayley. "Look, I'm stepping back."

Mulberry shook her head, switching her aim again. "Don't move! Just let me pass!" Her glasses were askew and her hair had come loose from its tight braid, giving her a halo of reddish curls. The dishevelled look contributed to the signals of agitation she was giving off.

Gayley stepped forward, making the same kind of placating gestures Chloe had been going for. "Easy, love. Nobody is trying to hurt you." He raised both hands. "Look, I've got nothing in my hands." He took one step to the left, covering Chloe's right side. That allowed her to bring her gun forward again. Of course, now Gayley was in her line of fire. He continued speaking. "You don't have to shoot anyone."

It did nothing to calm the woman down. "I'm not guilty! It wasn't me! Don't let _him_ take me!"

Him who? That was the first question that came to Chloe's mind. But this wasn't the time for those sorts of questions. "We can only protect you if you put the gun _down_ , Karen."

Mulberry shook her head, and kept shaking it. "No, no, no, no … I have to protect myself." She stepped aside, so she was leaning against the wall, and shot a quick glance backward. "Is he coming after me?"

"Who's after you, Karen?" That was Gayley again, keeping his tone calm and even. He was inching farther forward. But if the plan was to get close enough to Mulberry to get the gun off her, he had a long way to go yet.

More sound came from further up the tunnel. Footsteps - more than one person by the sound of it. Mulberry's breathing quickened. She gulped as if she were trying to swallow a potato whole. Then she turned around to aim her gun down the other corridor.

Gayley sprang into motion at the same time Chloe did. But he was closer, and could take longer strides. He got to Mulberry first.

Gayley grabbed at Mulberry's gun. She turned around, instinctively moving with the pull. As Gayley pushed the gun down, Mulberry turned further. She still had one hand on the gun. Her other hand scratched at Gayley's face. He held on, and they remained locked in struggle.

The gun went off.

The sound was deafening.

When Chloe found her wits again, Gayley was on the ground. So was Mulberry's gun. She stood over him, crying and in shock.

Lucifer came running out of the corridor behind Mulberry. He was looking around in a panic, too, but calmed down as soon as he saw Chloe.

He looked a little the worse for wear. He had soot streaks on his face, and he seemed to be favouring his left arm. His suit jacket had burn damage. After a deep breath, he stepped forward and kicked the gun away from Mulberry.

Mulberry saw him and shrank away. It gave Chloe the chance to step in and handcuff Mulberry while reciting her Miranda rights. Mulberry let it happen, all the fight now gone from her.

Lucifer stepped back into the corridor and chivvied out three more people – two young men and a woman wearing lab coats. All three were looking more than a little scorched, and they all nervously obeyed Lucifer's every command.

Gayley was still on the ground, clutching his stomach. Chloe kneeled next to him. He had been shot.

"We can't stay here long, Detective," Lucifer said. "There's a fire going back there, and if nothing else, the smoke will be here, soon."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded. She was too preoccupied with the injured Gayley to pay attention to what Lucifer was saying.

Lucifer caught on to her distraction. "Right," he said. He ordered his captives to take Mulberry to the exit, to stay put there and wait for other officers. When they flinchingly obeyed, he rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Gayley, too.

Gayley had doubled over into something like the fetal position, his hands pressing on the wound. It wasn't doing much good. He was losing a lot of blood. He groaned, only semi-conscious. They wouldn't be able to move him.

Chloe took out her phone and called in for an ambulance and backup. She should have done that a bit sooner. Oh well; nothing for it, now. "The ambulance will be here soon," she told Gayley, hoping he'd hear. "Don't you die on me."

Gayley actually groaned out something like a laugh. "Wasn't planning on it," he said, so softly Chloe had to put her ear to his mouth to even hear it. Then he passed out.

Chloe took that as the opportunity to stretch Gayley out so she could put pressure on the wound. Lucifer offered the remains of his jacket as a pillow.

Now there was at least a little time to look Lucifer over properly. He didn't just have soot on his face. There was a nasty burn across his right cheek, and even his shirt had suffered in the fire. There was also a bloodstain on the back of his shirt, though Chloe could see no actual wounds. "What happened?"

Lucifer tugged at his shirt sleeves. "I had to defend myself," he said diffidently. "Then someone knocked over a few bottles of … alcohol, I'm pretty sure. But there might be some other solvents involved, too. And there was an electrical short – some wires got cut when the bottles were knocked over."

Right. Sparks and Boom. That didn't explain why all of them were so docile under Lucifer's commands. Although it could be the shock of seeing the lab go up in flames. Given all the burns and soot stains, all of them had to have been in the lab when it went up. "Did you pull them out of the lab?"

"What else was I supposed to have done?" Lucifer sniffed. "I could hardly have left them in there." He glanced down at his shirt and trousers. They hadn't suffered as badly as his jacket, but neither would ever be wearable again. "Even if they did ruin my suit."

Lucifer looked up again, and he froze. His right hand dropped to Chloe's shoulder and stayed there. He was squeezing it, hard. Chloe wanted to protest, but Lucifer seemed to be staring at something.

Following his eyeline, Chloe couldn't see anything. But Lucifer slowly inclined his head, as if he were greeting someone worthy of silent respect. His grip on her shoulder didn't lessen.

Gayley stirred. With a wheeze of pain, he turned his head, facing in the same direction Lucifer was staring. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Not today, love." He paused to swallow. "Give Joss my regards." And he fell unconscious again.

"Lucifer," Chloe now spoke up. Lucifer still hadn't released his hold on her shoulder. He started as if she'd tased him. "You're hurting me."

Lucifer pulled his hand away and wiped it on his trouser leg, not meeting her eyes. "Apologies, Detective."

Chloe couldn't get up. She had to keep pressure on Gayley's wound. But she could still ask questions. "What happened just now?"

Lucifer's jaw clenched. After another deep breath, he managed some sort of a smile. "We came a little too close to Death for my comfort."

Chloe frowned. Lucifer wasn't usually the fearful type. He'd even pulled _her_ out of a burning building once with little more than a token protest about getting burned. Then again, there had been a lot of things coming together today. Maybe he really had gotten nervous. She shook her head, then smiled at him to reassure him. "We survived it. We'll get out of here, soon."

-x-

The police officers and firemen arrived quickly, taking Mulberry and her accomplices into custody. They hadn't moved from the exit of the tunnels. The paramedics arrived soon after that and took Gayley off to hospital.

Mulberry and her students confessed to running a drug lab in the subbasement. They made no attempt to plea-bargain or anything, making a straight confession. Mulberry also admitted that Jocelyn had stumbled over the lab the night she'd died. The woman did retain enough wits to not confess to Jocelyn's murder outright.

As to what drugs they were brewing down there, getting proper evidence was proving difficult due to the fire. But they could be pretty sure that the products included some strong psychotropics and hallucinogens. The drugs had been released in the fire, causing all four of the witnesses to hallucinate. One of them described seeing an angel down there. Another just talked about the beautiful light that turned harsh as the fire progressed.

It was a closed case, however. Charlotte could handle the rest. She'd jumped on the case with zest.

And Gayley's wound turned out to be less severe than it had initially seemed. The bullet had nicked an intestine but hadn't punctured it, and had otherwise missed all major organs. Gayley was on heavy-duty antibiotics just in case, but everything seemed to be going well.

He'd saved her life, so the least Chloe could do was visit him in the hospital while he recovered from the surgery.

Lucifer had apparently had the same idea. Chloe could hear him talking when she approached Gayley's private room. She recognised the rhythm of his speech and his tone of voice, but she couldn't hear what he said.

She did hear Gayley's response, just before she opened the door. "I kind of like the idea of you owing _me_ a favour."

Chloe waited to hear Lucifer's response, but there wasn't one. Instead, Gayley continued after a few seconds. "Just kidding. I chose to do what I did, and not for you."

Chloe opened the door then, not wanting to eavesdrop any longer. Lucifer turned to see who'd entered and greeted her. "Ah, Detective!" He made a show of checking behind her. "You should have brought the lieutenant. We could have had ourselves a proper gathering."

"Why would I bring Lieutenant Pierce?" Chloe gave Lucifer a confused look. "He wasn't involved in this case at all." Also, the fewer people knew about Gayley's imagined immortality, the fewer fudges Chloe would have to work into the paperwork on the case.

"Perhaps you're right," Lucifer admitted. "The lieutenant's perspective is a bit different. I don't think Hob and he would have seen eye to eye." He nodded at Gayley. "Come by Lux when the doctors let you go. We'll drink some more of that moonshine."

"I'm surprised you didn't bring any with you," Gayley responded, and lifted his hand in a goodbye gesture as Lucifer left the room. Then he turned to Chloe, shooting her a bright smile. "Did you solve your mystery yet, Detective?"

Chloe hadn't looked any further into Gayley's history. Just like she'd stopped enquiring into Lucifer's past. At some point, someone saving her life earned that consideration. "I figure I might as well take your word for it," she said, winking at him as she sat down at his bedside. "Although," she continued. "You _did_ just get shot. Doesn't that sort of disprove your point?"

Gayley started to laugh, but it turned into a pained groan. "I never claimed to be invulnerable."

"Okay, I'll bite," Chloe shot back. "So how does this immortality work, then?" She didn't have to believe in it to humour Gayley, after all.

But Gayley took her seriously. "Dying is a choice," he said, looking her in the eye. "I choose not to, every time."

Chloe nodded, emulating Gayley's sincerity. "Just like that." That seemed a bit simple. An immortality ritual should, by rights, be more elaborate, surely? Still, this wasn't her delusion.

"Pretty much, yeah." Gayley smiled at her, but then his gaze drifted to the door Lucifer had just left through. "Although it helps if one of the Powers in the universe lets you."


End file.
